1,000-tonne seabed turbine to harness tidal power

A giant tidal turbine has been lowered into position on the Bay of Fundy seabed near Parrsboro, N.S., a “huge milestone” for a test project aiming to demonstrate the industry’s potential.

A spokesman for Cape Sharp Tidal says the 1,000-tonne turbine was put into place on Monday morning during an ebb tide that lasted about four hours.

“I believe it’s a huge milestone in the tidal industry,” said Jeremy Poste, the manager of Cape Sharp Tidal, a joint venture between Emera Inc. and Open-Hydro, a DCNS company.

“At the completion of the project we will be able to demonstrate the technical and financial viability of tidal.”

The company had planned to install the fivestorey-high turbine over the weekend, but had to delay installation while preparation work was being done on the tail portion of the unit.

Poste said that in the next few days the turbine will be connected to the power grid through a subsea cable and is expected to begin generating electricity in the next few weeks that will eventually be enough to supply 1,000 residences.

The partnership says it eventually plans to install a pair of two megawatt, instream tidal turbines at the testing site, in what would become North America’s first tidal array connected to an electrical grid.

The Cape Sharp project is one of several that plan to test different turbine technologies in the Bay of Fundy, which has some of the world’s most powerful tides.